


At Death's Door

by rolerei



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Bittersweet Ending, F/M, Kissing, Pain, Prevented declaration of love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-26
Updated: 2020-01-26
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:14:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22416088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rolerei/pseuds/rolerei
Summary: After putting on the Ring of Lucii, Nyx Ulric struck a bargain with the Lucian Kings of Yore to save the future - and the woman he loved.
Relationships: Nyx Ulric/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 12





	At Death's Door

**Author's Note:**

> Basically Nyx's POV during a scene in the [Chapter 22](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20321962/chapters/49514033) of The Last Glaive.
> 
> This had been sitting around in my Google Docs as a WIP for too long and I'm just happy I finally finished it.

There was darkness as far as his eyes could see. Nevertheless, Nyx could sense their presence. Waiting, observing him from a distance. He’d stand up if he could, but the gunshot wound on his abdomen prevented that.

Well, he just had to make do with lying down on… whatever it was he was lying down on.

“Show yourselves, kings of Lucis!” he shouted into the pitch black void in front of him.

Almost immediately, the darkness was filled with a wall of blazing blue fire. Nyx squinted his eyes from the sudden light, and from there he was able to see shapes emerging from the fire. The figures were human-like, and as tall as the skyscrapers that populated the inner city of Insomnia. Horned helmets and elaborate armors gave each one of them an imposing, Draconian appearance. 

“You call upon the wards of this world's future, mortal.” A voice resounded directly inside Nyx's head. “And if you come lusting for our power, you must first stand in our judgment.”

Nyx spread his gaze around. There were thirteen of them, if his counting could be trusted. Odd. He had expected that there would be more, considering the 2000-years history of Lucis.

Among the thirteen kings standing before him, the one in the center appeared to hold the most authority. Almost like he had been appointed as the leader. Could it have been the Founder King? Nyx would have been more inclined to find out if he wasn't so short on time. 

“How long will you do nothing while Insomnia burns?” he demanded. “Old or new, or whatever it is… summon your wall!”

“You do not command us. Yours is not even royal blood.”

“Royal or not, is it not your duty to guard your city?!”

The Founder King, in turn, took a moment of calm, arrogant pause. “Man is a foolish creature, clinging to his past and cowering from his future. Wasting his strength on bygone days.”

Nyx scoffed. “What future are you wards of, then?”

“So shortsighted… and cursed never to rise above it.”

A yell escaped out of Nyx as he felt invisible force pressing down against his upper body. He could barely lift his head when one of the kings stepped forward from the blazing blue fire.

“Wait! I have seen what this brave soul is prepared to do,” declared the figure. “He, too, seeks to safeguard the future.”

It was King Regis' voice. The same one that had pleaded to Nyx and another Glaive to bring the Oracle to safety. “Your Majesty…”

“Very well, young king. We will weigh your warrior's worth,” decreed the Founder King, shortly before Nyx felt the pressure on his chest lift off. “But our boon does not come cheap. The cost is a life. His or hers.”

Visions appeared before him, then. The first one was of Libertus, with his elbow supporting his upper body against the cobblestones. The second one was of a woman in the mage uniform of the Glaives - the niece of the Crownsguard's Immortal Marshal - crawling on her hands and knees next to the Oracle. The two of them appeared to have been frozen in the time it took for Nyx to put on the Ring of Lucii.

Nyx gritted his teeth. _Which would you sacrifice?_ The King had really asked. _Your brother or your lover?_

“No,” answered Nyx firmly. “To hell with your power! I'm not here for it. I only came to tell you: you are no kings!”

The Founder King straightened up ever so slightly. “Your worth has been weighed and found wanting. Now burn.”

Nyx yelled out loud yet again. This time, it was due to the blue-tinted fire that had suddenly appeared and burned the hand where he had been wearing the ring. In no time at all, the heat and the pain had transferred to his entire arm, up to his shoulder.

 _This is it,_ he thought then. He was going to die here, in this space between the living and the dead. Achieving nothing.

Amid the blazing and excruciating pain, he tried hard to think. Yet no thoughts came to mind, except that Crowe, Libertus, and _she_ would die along with him if he did nothing. And for what?

Nyx thought of the blood-drenched Council Hall, with Ravus Nox Fleuret burning in its midst. He remembered Glauca next, threatening the defenseless Oracle to give up the ring.

 _The Ring of Lucii,_ King Regis had explained to him patiently, despite the wound that the Imperial General had dealt him. _Grants unimaginable powers to those of the royal blood._

An amused cackle escaped Nyx's lips amid the roaring fire.

“You're going to lose your precious ring, Your Majesties,” taunted Nyx. “But it's still not too late to save it!”

The fire on his arm went off in an instant. Nyx couldn't help but breathe in sharply - and gladly. A trailing tingling heat could still be felt on the surface of his skin, though it was rapidly cooling off.

“You mean to barter for your life?” asked the Founder King. His voice sounded intrigued as it was echoing directly inside Nyx's own head. The Galahdian couldn't help but chuckle dryly.

“No, no. My life is nothing.” 

Nyx closed his eyes. For a moment, the sight of the thirteen kings of Lucis disappeared in his mind's eyes, replaced instead by the skyline of Insomnia at night. The Citadel stood erect in the distance, with the pillar of light from the Crystal shooting up from its center. Amid the glimmering lights, _she_ was there, sitting next to him on an abandoned rooftop. Her hand held a half empty can of beer, her eyes looking pensively over the glittering, Wall-protected landscape before them. A coeurl lost in thoughts. 

_I think the most important thing is… the future._

Nyx remembered a realization dawning on him then: that he was ready to do everything in his power to give that future to her. He opened his eyes and looked determinedly up at the Lucian Kings.

“But giving a future to those who want to see it… is everything.”

Silence hung for a moment in the azure-lit darkness. 

“Hmm. You do not fear, even if that future is doomed,” the Founder King continued. “If that sentiment is not false, perhaps you are worthy.”

The Founder King raised one of his claw-like hands. “We shall grant you our Light. But know it will set when the sun rises - and the price for it will be your life.”

Nyx let out a sarcastic chuckle. He tried to stand up and was surprised by how unexpectedly easy the process had been. The wound on his abdomen had miraculously healed, and the lack of his uniform's sleeve was the only telling sign that his arm had been burned.

“You guys drive a hard bargain.” His ice-blue eyes looked up at the Founder King, bright and recalcitrant. “Where do I sign?”

Nyx had more things to say to the arrogant dead kings, but any word that he thought of saying melted away as he felt static coursing in his bloodstream. The Crystal’s magic, he realized. The sensations inevitably threw him back to years ago, on the day he and Libertus were officially appointed as Glaives.

The nostalgia didn’t last very long, however. All he had to do was blink, and Nyx was back again on the cobblestone road of Insomnia’s Section D. The sword of General Glauca hovered just centimeters above him.

Nyx raised his right hand up, casting a protective shield between him and the singing steel blade. Then he let go of the spell and pushed forward with his other hand. A crackle of white-blue lightning shot out of his palm and struck Glauca square on his Magitek-armored torso, sending the General flying with a surprised grunt.

“How…?”

He heard a soft, disbelieving mutter somewhere to his left. Without wasting another moment, Nyx bent down, wound his arm around his lover's waist, and pulled her up into a kiss to end all kisses.

He could have said he loved her, then. But he didn’t. It hadn’t felt kind, chaining her to the past - to him - like that, with mere three words.

Although, he would be lying to say he never regretted it.

But as the dawn started to rise, and he could feel his body tearing to pieces, Nyx found himself consoled by the fact that the people he loved had made it out alive. And _she_ was out there. The woman he'd never dared say he loved. Delivering the Ring to its rightful owner. 

"Heh. Not a bad way to go…"

The sunlight should have been warm, but he felt nothing as it touched his cracking, burning skin. Inevitably, Nyx's thoughts went to the sullen-faced teenager with tousled black hair that he spotted on TV every once in a while.

A smirk made its way onto the Galahdian's lips one last time.

“Rule well, young king.”


End file.
